Monday, 31 October 2016

Jacquie Bond-Smith

Jacquie in the Marcos in 1967

Jacquie Bond-Smith started
in club motorsport in her father's car, a “Wavendon Wombat” special, in 1960. She
was then known as Jacquie Cook. The Wombat was an 1172cc clubman’s car built by
her father, Arthur Cook. Results for Jacquie in this car are proving tough to
track down. Both she and her sister, Joey, raced it on occasion.

Some time in the early 1960s, she
married John Bond-Smith, a racer and businessman. At the same time, she seems
to have made her way up through the club racing ranks, and was awarded the
Chris Bristow Trophy by the BRDC in 1964, in recognition of “the most promising
performance at Silverstone.” This may well have been in a Ford Cortina, or possibly
a Lotus single-seater.

She definitely did race a Cortina
in 1965, a Lotus model. She drove it in some rounds of the BSCC, and secured a
best finish of tenth at Snetterton, followed by seventeenth place in the St
Marys Trophy at Goodwood. For the next round, she drove a Ford Galaxie, at
Silverstone, but did not finish. It was her only BSCC outing of the year in
that car, although she did race it in the European Touring Car Championship. In
August, she was thirteenth in the Snetterton 500km, winning her class.

In club races, she used a Lotus
Elan. In this car, she was third in a GT race at Silverstone in October,
winning her class.

In 1966, she returned to sportscar
racing, campaigning a Lotus 23 in British club races. She was twelfth in one
race at Silverstone, just behind sister Joey in the Wombat.

Jacquie’s big project for 1967 was
the FLIRT all-girl racing team. FLIRT stood for “First Ladies International
Racing Team”, and it was made up of Jacquie and Joey, plus Jacqui Smith,
another young driver who had had some success in British club events in a
Hillman Imp. Their car was a Mini Marcos, supplied by the Marcos factory. The
team picked up quite a lot of publicity, with a Pathé film being made of the
three of them testing at Castle Combe.

FLIRT made three appearances in
the World Manufacturers’ Championship in Europe. Jacquie and Joey were the
chosen drivers. They did not finish the Nürburgring 1000km due to engine
problems, but they got to the end of the Mugello Grand Prix, in 37th
place. Later in the season, Jacquie drove the Nürburgring 500km solo, and was 21st
overall, fourth in class. Joey drove a sister car, but did not finish. The FLIRT
team may well have done some more British races, but the results are proving
elusive.

As well as her FLIRT activities,
Jacquie raced in the British Sportscar Championship. She was seventeenth in the
Silverstone round, in a Porsche 904, and may also have raced a Ferrari 250LM
belonging to her husband.

She disappears from the entry
lists at the end of 1967. Not long after, her marriage broke up. After her
racing career ended, she adopted horseriding as her sport of choice.